I am pleased to announce that San Francisco State University has
just taken another major step in our ongoing efforts to provide a
safe and healthful environment for all members of our community.
On August 23, 2004, we will become a smoke-free campus. With the
exception of a few small, designated areas, smoking will be prohibited
on all University-owned or leased property.

We have
been moving in this direction for some time. The previous University
policy prohibited smoking within 30 feet of a campus
building. Given our compact campus, that actually left few legal
opportunities for smokers. In addition, the Bookstore Board of
Directors chose in 2003 to end the sale of tobacco products. Last
spring, the Academic Senate took up the issue. In a very progressive
action, "in the interests of the health and well being of
non-smokers and smokers alike," the Senate passed a resolution
calling for SFSU to become a smoke-free campus with designated
smoking areas –- exactly what the new policy provides. (You
can read the complete policy at www.sfsu.edu/~news/announce/smokingpolicy.htm.

With
this policy, our hope is to protect all who live, work, study or
visit the campus from a major health concern: secondhand smoke.
In a 1996 report, the U.S. Surgeon General called this "involuntary
smoking" –- a term that suggests its real seriousness.
The report concluded that involuntary smoking causes disease, including
lung cancer, in healthy nonsmokers. Both mainstream smoke -- smoke
that is exhaled into the air by smokers, and sidestream smoke --
smoke that comes directly from the burning tobacco in cigarettes
-- contain the same harmful chemicals as the smoke that smokers
inhale. In fact, because sidestream smoke is formed at lower temperatures,
it gives off even larger amounts of some cancer-causing substances.
The Surgeon General also found that the simple separation of smokers
and nonsmokers within the same air space may reduce, but does not
eliminate, the exposure of nonsmokers to environmental tobacco
smoke.

The designated
smoking areas are easily reachable but separated from main campus
traffic and are clearly marked. They include: a 19th
Ave. site in front of HSS; the sidewalk behind the Franciscan Building
on Holloway Ave.; the sidewalk at the entrance to Village Parking,
on Font; the sidewalk at the Lake Merced Blvd./Winston intersection;
a site behind the Corp Yard building; a site atop Lot 20, and a
site in the southeast section of the Cox Stadium stands. (These
sites, marked on a campus map, can be viewed at www.sfsu.edu/~news/announce/smokemap.htm.)
I would hope that over time smoking on campus will diminish naturally
and we will be able to reduce, and perhaps eliminate, the designated
smoking spots.

Some
will ask why the Academic Senate recommended, and the policy establishes,
any smoking areas at all. The choice is both pragmatic
and principled. Denying those who smoke any outlet is likely
to prove counterproductive and prompt both resentment and violation
of the policy. Further, mutual respect, a cornerstone of our
campus
values, leads us to seek a solution that addresses the concerns
of all involved.

I hope
that spirit will be reflected across campus as we bring the policy
to life. It is respect –- for each other and
for the shared rules of our community -- that will make the policy
work
as it is intended to do.

Keeping
our air smoke-free is a major step. However, the University now has
an opportunity to do much more. We can actively promote
health. I strongly support the Senate’s call for the University
to "support and develop education and health resources" to
increase awareness of the dangers of smoking and secondhand smoke,
to help those who would like to quit, succeed in that effort, and
to work against the powerful and growing wave of tobacco advertising.
Look for these efforts in the coming year.

In the
meanwhile, I invite your cooperation and your commitment to an effort
that will benefit us all.